Star Missions - Book One - Part I

Chapter 8 - Remarkable Find

Nova Station, Strolla System

Acting Administrator Marcus Hawkins yawned. He'd had another restless night and about half the sleep he needed to function correctly. Marcus had gotten up early. Even so, he was still running late to meet with the Governor and Colonel at the Station's Medical Lab. When he woke up, he checked the station logs. Dr. Kabwika had already begun examining the creature. Though exciting, Marcus wondered why all this happened only a couple days after Dr. Mallik took leave. He stepped into the elevator and started his descent to his selected floor. As he did so, he ran through in his mind what he learned about what happened on Hydra.

They told him of a massive explosion, but very little more was shared. All that the Colonel's pilot would reveal more was that they were bringing in a live alien being, one they had not seen on Hydra or Nova. They wanted Marcus needed to get the med Lab ready and wake Dr. Kabwika and his assistants to receive and monitor it.

During the early hours, he had to get everything ready but was not even authorized to see the creature. He was not 'essential medical personnel.'

Marcus had little time to feel sorry about his inability to sleep, or the fact that the station commander was not 'essential' enough to have seen the alien as it arrived. All he knew was that they found an alien drifting in LHO—and still alive. That was a remarkable find. He could not help but think it had something to do with the alien shuttle he detected drifting a couple of days earlier in the same general area.

Besides preparing for the alien's arrival, a new security contingent of Space Dogs needed to housing. They were to guard the alien when and if it awoke. All had to prepare everything without revealing what was happening. The group had arrived at the Station in the middle of Marcus' designated sleep period. The whole contingent headed straight to the med Lab, where Dr. Kabwika and his team were ready. Most on the Station kept the same sleep schedule as the settlement on Nova did, and Marcus was no exception.

Colonel Hand and Governor Belter were already standing in front of the science lab when Marcus arrived. The Colonel seemed his usual taciturn self, but the Governor appeared unusually tired and stressed. There were also five Space Dogs along the corridor, armed and ready with laser blasters. Marcus felt their presence was a bit invasive but didn't want to protest, as the Doctor in his white lab coat was to begin briefing them on the situation.

Though normally very quiet, the Doctor seemed almost giddy. He was forty years old when they discovered the gate. Hunger and sickness were rampant at that time on Terra. Dr. Kabwika was born and raised in the Sixth Dominion and suffered less from food and water shortages than others of his age group in the other Dominions. His compassion prompted him to become a healer, a medical doctor. Then when Terrans found extra-terrestrial life in the Strolla System, he focused on a new career. Dr. Kabwika is the leading exobiologist in the Strolla System.

His research up until arriving on the Station had been theoretical. But, now, he had the opportunity to examine an extra-terrestrial up close. He was excited that he was now able to research an actual alien patient. It was clear the Doctor could hardly wait for the Governor to ask him what he had found out since the creature's arrival.

"The alien is still non-responsive, but it is breathing our atmosphere," Dr. Kabwika began, fingers of one hand pressing his glasses back in place, then brushing his white goatee as he lowered it. "Scans and a physical examination show it to be male, just over two meters tall. He appears to have many of the same organs humans have and a few others that, so far, we have not been able to identify."

Curious, Marcus wanted to ask about the organs, but before he could ask it, the Doctor answered. His words poured out in an excited rush.

"My best guess is that those extra organs act to store food, water, and oxygen, creating an internal environment that is, I suspect, what allowed him to survive in space."